HCA: Hermit Crab Association

Agathor has been hanging out in the fresh water bowl for around 3 weeks. in the past 3 days he has been in the salt water bowl. But last night I noticed he is not wearing his shell. Now this is a very large Indo crab. The pincher alone is very impressive, very near as large as a quarter.
The really weird thing is I think he is molting while in the bowl. On the very tip of his tail I can see little claws/legs?? A little further up at his 4th set of legs, the right one has a working pincher while the rest of the legs look normal. I have watched Agathor for hours just to make sure he is alright and every once in a while I get to see the weirdness moving and I'm all like What the.... is going on?

Last night I watched him climb out of the water, move around a little bit and get back into the water where I found him again this morning. I tried placing more shells around him so that he would not have to go far to find a new home, but he ended up back in the salt water. He seems fine. Agathor is housed with 10 other crabs in a 29 gal tank. None of the others bother him so I am not worried about him being attacked, but am I seeing him pulling a surface molt?

Should I maybe make a hole for him and burry him down.

I can see the little funny legs claw things on the tip of his but/tail and it really freaks me out.

I feel like I am peeping into a private moment and reallly wish he would put his clothes back on. YEESH

It sounds like something's wrong with this little guy, the only stories I've heard with crabs hanging out in the water naked haven't ended very well Do you have indo friendly shells? Try the cup method, put a tiny bit of lukewarm dechlor fresh water into a cup (so he won't dry out) and put him and either the shell he was wearing previously, or if that's not appropriate, a new shell that would fit him nicely. Keep the cup in the tank to keep him warm and humid (maybe warm up the cup ahead of time a bit if it's glass) and hopefully he will re-shell. If he doesn't overnight, then gently (very gently!) hold him in your hand, and try to curl his abdomen into the shell, if he pushes and doesn't want to go in, then don't force him, but he might need a hand (I've had a crab willingly walk into my hand and back into his shell that was stolen) Try to treat his abdomen as a tiny, thin skinned water balloon, it's very delicate, and full of tiny organs so if there's too much pressure on it, even if the skin doesn't break, he could be hurt.
As for his claw things, that's normal they have two pairs of legs that stay in the shell, they're for holding onto the shell and the long claw like ones are for grooming his gills/abdomen. Wolfnipplechips has a video of her crab using them, I'll dig it up for you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUrjLsgu ... S3w1vyId-w

Thanks for getting to me so fast.
Hmm, so I will head home after work and try to work on Aggie. Good lawd I hate touching the uncovered parts...really grosses me out. But Mommy gotta do what Mommy gotta do right?
I understand what you are saying about the anatomy of the baby, but at the very tip of his bottom...to see the new (extras, cuz this would make 6 pairs on each side??) feet where there should be none is the freakiest thing i have ever witnessed. If I was thinking I would have brought my camera (took some pics last night) so I could show you what I mean about the extras. As for the 4th leg witht he claw, now he has 2 claws on his right side. Like he's morf molting or something.

They have a set of mini claws right behind their legs, and another set at the base of their tail. They're used for grooming and for removing poop from their shell. It is FREAKY the first time you see them!

Any time a crab is naked it's not a good thing. They're at risk of injuring themselves and from being injured by others. That back end of theirs is extremely delicate and it doesn't take much for an internal injury to occur, and those they can't repair with a molt. Going naked and soaking in the water bowl is a known health issue, and it doesn't normally turn out well.

I really think you should do what you can to get him reshelled when you get home. If you don't want to touch him (and honestly it's better not to when they're naked) then use a bottle or jar to move him - coax him into it and make sure he's in there securely before moving it. Giving him a freshwater bath will rinse off any debris that may be stuck on him and keeping him from feeling comfortable in a new shell, and putting him with freshly washed shells in a container with no substrate will keep him clean until he goes back in. If he doesn't put a shell back after an hour or so then there may be a bigger under lying problem.

I very much doubt it's a molt though. Even if it was a surface molt they should never ever leave a shell so it's in the danger territory. Also, as long as he's naked it would be safest to keep the other crabs away from him - hermits are opportunistic scavengers, and crab is one of their favorite foods.

Thank you again so very much. Leaving work right now and taking care of him as soon as possible.
fingers crossed.

I hope you can get him reshelled quickly!

This post has made me want to go look at pictures of nekkid crabs to familiarize myself with their anatomy, though.